Dracula
Bram Stoker’s now legendary novel, Dracula, is not just any piece of cult-spawning fiction, but rather a time capsule containing the popular thoughts, ideas, and beliefs of the Victorian era that paints an elaborate picture of what society was like for Bram Stoker’s generation.
The Victorian era was a very strange time. This time period was known for Poorhouses (Asylum) were government run facilities where the poor, infirm, or mentally ill could live. They were usually filthy and full to the brim of societies unwanted people. “At the time, poverty was seen as dishonorable as it came from a lack of the moral virtue of industriousness.” (………..). So poor people were thrown into these asylums. The 19th century, saw a vast increase of population growth, and as well saw a massive expansion of the number and size of insane asylums, a process called 'the great confinement' or the 'asylum era'. Laws were introduced to deal with those judged insane by family members and hospital superintendents. Although originally based on the concepts and structures of moral treatment, they became largely impersonal institutions overburdened with “large numbers of people with a complex mix of mental and socioeconomic problems.” (Asylums) Also “London during the Victorian era was famed for its pea-soupers fogs so thick you could barely see through it. The pea-soupers were caused by a combination of fogs from the River Thames and smoke from the coal fires”(Source 3). In a time when “one in four surgery patients died after surgery”(Medical Source)…, you were very lucky in Victorian times to have a good doctor with a clean space. There was no anesthesia, no painkillers for after, and no electric equipment to reduce the duration of an operation. Victorian surgery was not just creepy it was outright horrific. In the late Victorian era, the monster known as Jack the Ripper terrorized London. Using the pea soupers as a cover, the Ripper ultimately slaughtered five or more prostitutes working
The Victorian era was a very strange time. This time period was known for Poorhouses (Asylum) were government run facilities where the poor, infirm, or mentally ill could live. They were usually filthy and full to the brim of societies unwanted people. “At the time, poverty was seen as dishonorable as it came from a lack of the moral virtue of industriousness.” (………..). So poor people were thrown into these asylums. The 19th century, saw a vast increase of population growth, and as well saw a massive expansion of the number and size of insane asylums, a process called 'the great confinement' or the 'asylum era'. Laws were introduced to deal with those judged insane by family members and hospital superintendents. Although originally based on the concepts and structures of moral treatment, they became largely impersonal institutions overburdened with “large numbers of people with a complex mix of mental and socioeconomic problems.” (Asylums) Also “London during the Victorian era was famed for its pea-soupers fogs so thick you could barely see through it. The pea-soupers were caused by a combination of fogs from the River Thames and smoke from the coal fires”(Source 3). In a time when “one in four surgery patients died after surgery”(Medical Source)…, you were very lucky in Victorian times to have a good doctor with a clean space. There was no anesthesia, no painkillers for after, and no electric equipment to reduce the duration of an operation. Victorian surgery was not just creepy it was outright horrific. In the late Victorian era, the monster known as Jack the Ripper terrorized London. Using the pea soupers as a cover, the Ripper ultimately slaughtered five or more prostitutes working